Open Season: A Joe Pickett Novel

Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden—especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way—is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in.

This is where it all began.......

This is the first book in the Joe Pickett series by CJ Box and to begin with the story was somewhat awkward; however, the more I read the more I had ..Show More »to read. Joe Pickett is a good guy! He tries to live his life by doing the "right thing" in every aspect of his life. He is a vulnerable human being and the author shares this with you. There are some parts of the story that you can not help but to laugh at the "humanness" of the situations. Open Season is an easy read, an enjoyable read; I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading stories where good triumphs over evil.

Savage Run: A Joe Pickett Novel

An Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and Barry Award winner, C. J. Box delivers the second pulse-pounding installment in his critically acclaimed series. While investigating a string of bizarre murders, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is forced to flee across treacherous terrain with a deadly tracker on his trail.

Box brings the West alive!

Yes. I found the plot interesting and the characters well-developed. Yes, it isn't a traditional mystery as we already know who the bad guys are, bu..Show More »t Mr Box develops the setting so well that it becomes another character. I live in the mountains of Colorado and life is quite similar to life in WY. Hunting, fishing, ams... I think Mr Box does a great job of illustrating the type of lives that are lived in the rural West.

Some reviewers said they found Joe Pickett to be too weak. I don't think of him as weak. He is a pacifist, a lover of nature, and a family man. He does the job he does because he truly believes that the animals and land should be protected. He carries a weapon only because it is required and would much rather not do so. To me, that isn't weak, in fact, it is the opposite. He has strong convictions and isn't swayed by outside sources. I respect that in people and I respect it in this character.

Winterkill: Joe Pickett, Book 3

In the third adventure in C. J. Box’s engrossing series, Joe Pickett finds himself at the center of a confrontation between a special investigative team and a group of government-hating survivalists camped out on federal land. With the help of a mysterious stranger, Joe lays his life on the line to protect an innocent girl before a wave of violence surges over the Bighorn Mountains.

I can not seem to put it down!

This was a good story. To begin with I did not think that I would be a fan of CJ Box, but I really enjoy his Joe Pickett series.

Trophy Hunt: A Joe Pickett Novel

It's an idyllic late-summer day in Saddlestring, Wyoming, and game warden Joe Pickett is fly-fishing with his two daughters when he stumbles upon the mutilated body of a moose. Whatever - or whoever - attacked the animal was ruthless: half the animal's face has been sliced away, the skin peeled back from the flesh. Shaken by the sight, Joe starts to investigate what he hopes in an isolated incident.

Twistingly Complex

This is my 4th or 5th Joe Picket novel by C.J. Box. And this may be the most complex plot of them all, growing deeper and deeper. Box knows how to bui..Show More »ld tension, picking up the pace as the climax nears until I find myself grasping for excuses to drive somewhere, run an errand, anything to have time to listen to more of the story.

Besides the main characters, Box creates amazingly memorable secondary characters, such as Not Ike, one of two black men in the town who people constantly mix up. One is Ike, and his cousin becomes known as Not Ike. Where does he come up with this stuff? It all adds to the deep realism that makes me feel like I've been to Saddlestring, Wyoming and met these people.

Trophy Hunt: Joe Pickett, Book 4

It’s an idyllic late-summer day in Saddlestring, Wyoming, and game warden Joe Pickett is fly-fishing with his two daughters when he stumbles upon the mutilated body of a moose. Whatever or whoever attacked the animal was ruthless: half the animal’s face has been sliced away, the skin peeled back from the flesh. Shaken by the sight, Joe starts to investigate what he hopes is an isolated incident.

Out of Range

C. J. Box's best-selling Joe Pickett novels have earned him a spot on every serious suspense fan's shortlist of favorites. The tightly constructed Out of Range brings game warden Joe to a new, remote beat in Wyoming's vast countryside to investigate the suspicious death of the previous warden.

One Good Man In A Three Horse Hole

Each Joe Picket installment is better than the last, and this one I couldn't turn off. Each book reveals more of what makes the characters so intrigu..Show More »ing and empathetic, even characters I am inclined to hate. I appreciate that Box touches on the action in past novels very briefly, so I don't feel my time is being wasted, hearing what I already know. For this very reason, though, I would encourage fans of Joe Picket to buy the print edition or the audio book, if you can find it, of "Winterkill." It is another terrific book, and fills in a lot of why and how Joe and Mary Beth and Nate come to be the people they are. The audio cassettes have a narrator other than David Chandler, and he does an excellent job.

But back to, "Out of Range," the story finds Joe in Jackson's Hole, without his wife and girls to buoy him up...and the crossed wires of that situation are bad enough to cause one and all to lose their firm hold on just who they are and where their loyalties lie. Add all the mysteries, conflicts and characters that the new digs throw at Joe, the threats from within and without back at home, and you have one Joe Picket installment that you won't want to end. Even when Joe and Mary Beth are heading towards doing things that I do not want them to do, I cannot blame them, one little bit...it is enough to make me squirm! I have already bought and downloaded In Plain Sight! How great is it that I still have so many of these mysteries to listen to, before I have caught up with where Joe and is family are today??!!

In Plain Sight: A Joe Pickett Novel

C. J. Box has won a host of awards, including the Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and Barry. In Plain Sight sees game warden Joe Pickett's life take a turn for the worse after millionaire Opal Scarlett goes missing. As Pickett discovers more and more disturbing truths, it becomes clear that someone wants the dogged game warden to keep his nose out of the investigation.

Raw & Real

I absolutely love Joe Picket so perhaps I am biased, but this is is a extremely well read audio book, the listener can hear the pain and emotion that ..Show More »only David Chandler can display. The story itself is intense, real and super raw. It is graphic and cutting edge. I highly recommend!! A++

Free Fire

Best-selling author C. J. Box—an Anthony and Macavity Award winner—earned starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist for this exceptional mystery. Taking advantage of a legal loophole, a lawyer kills four people in Yellowstone National Park and walks away a free man. As the public outcry intensifies, the governor hires former game warden Joe Pickett to conduct a private investigation.

A very fun read!

Free Fire is the best of the three Joe Pickett novels I've "read" so far. The plot is complex, yet not convoluted. The characters act beli..Show More »evably. Most of all, it's a fun read.

Free Fire

Joe Pickett, having recently been fired from his job as a Wyoming game warden, is working on his father-in-law’s ranch when he receives a call. Governor Rulon - a devious but down-home politico - has a special request. Clay McCann, a lawyer who slaughtered four campers in cold blood in a far-off corner of Yellowstone National Park, had immediately turned himself in at the nearest park ranger station - except that the crimes were committed in a thin sliver of land with zero residents and overlapping jurisdiction, the so-called free-fire zone.

Blood Trail

Former game warden Pickett is now a special agent reporting directly to the governor. With someone targeting elk hunters, Pickett must head off a potentially deadly showdown when a flamboyant anti-hunting activist rolls in to town.

Each book better than the one before

I'm making my way theough the series, listening on audible narration. Each book is better than the one before; the narrator, David Chandler is a super..Show More »b narrator, and I'm hoping he performs the entire series. The author had created believably human characters that, as in life, grow and change as time progresses. His descriptions of the west are amazingly crafted and transports me back home where I smell the sage and make my heart ache for the magnificent beauty of the area. What a gift of storytelling Mr Box has, and what skill he had honed as a gift to listeners.

Blood Trail

It’s elk season in the Rockies, but this year one hunter is stalking a different kind of prey. When the call comes in on the radio, Joe Pickett can hardly believe his ears: game wardens have found a hunter dead at a camp in the mountains - strung up, gutted, skinned, and beheaded, as if he were the elk he’d been pursuing. Governor Rulon is forced to end hunting season early for the first time in state history - outraging hunters and potentially crippling the state’s income from the loss of hunting license revenue.

Below Zero

New York Times best-selling author C. J. Box's Below Zero is the 10th novel featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. The telephone calls from her stepdaughter April send chills down the spine of Joe's daughter Sherry. Wasn't April murdered six years ago in a bloody massacre? Wondering how this youthful caller knows details only April could know, Sherry becomes confused while Joe grows suspicious. Is the caller April - or are Joe and his family victims of a cruel hoax?

Good plot, good writing, good narration

Once again, C. J. Box has delivered to us a wonderful novel that translates well into audio. "Below Zero" has a daring twist for these envi..Show More »ronmentally-conscious times: an environmentalist bad guy. I don't know if the conceit works, entirely, since the bad guy is doing all the wrong things for all the right reasons. Plus, he has enlisted his father to help him with his environmental extremist project; convincing his father that doing so will somehow redeem him from past wrongs. (The "Below Zero" of the title refers not to temperature, but to the carbon footprint that humans inflict upon the world.) I don't think that this father-son conceit completely succeeds either. For those two reasons I have docked one star from my rating of "Below Zero." Otherwise, I like this audiobook a lot, as I have liked all of C. J. Box's previous novels. He creates wonderful characters -- especially his main character Joe Pickett, and Joe's best friend Nate Romanowski: two very different men whom we like for very different reasons. As with Nevada Barr's, Tony Hillerman's, and William Kent Krueger's novels, the land itself plays as important a part in the story as any of the human characters. Anyone who loves the North Country will love C. J. Box's novels. David Chandler does a commendable job of narrating the story, providing good vocal distinction between the different characters.

Below Zero

'Tell Sherry April called.' That simple phone message shakes Joe Pickett’s oldest daughter Sheridan and the rest of the family to the core. To Joe, it doesn’t seem even remotely possible that April could have survived the massacre six years before. He was there, and he was unable to save her. But Sheridan starts to believe there’s a chance that April is still alive, and her suspicions are confirmed when the person sending texts to her cell phone is able to recall family incidents only April could know.

Nowhere to Run: A Joe Pickett Novel

Joe Pickett's in his last week as the temporary game warden in the town of Baggs, Wyoming, but there have been strange things going on in the mountains, and his conscience won't let him leave without checking them out: reports of camps looted, tents slashed, elk butchered. And then there's the runner who simply vanished one day. Joe doesn't mind admitting that the farther he rides, the more he wishes he could just turn around and go home.

JP needs to go to Absaroka County with Longmire!

I love Joe Pickett stories but I think the protagonist sheriff line needs to fade away. First it was Bud Barnam and now its McLanahan. There is alwa..Show More »ys a real bad guy in these books why does the sheriff always have to be adversarial? It would be nice for Joe and family to move to Absaroka County (yes I know its fictional) and have Walt Longmire as Sheriff. Nate would get along great with Henry. I can picture Mary Beth and Vic chatting over lunch haha.

Nowhere to Run

Joe Pickett’s in his last week as the temporary game warden in the isolated town of Baggs, Wyoming, but there have been strange things going on in the surrounding mountains, and his conscience won’t let him leave without checking them out: reports of camps looted, tents slashed, elk butchered. And then there’s the runner who’s gone missing – an Olympic hopeful who’d been training in the region and then just ... vanished.

Cold Wind: A Joe Pickett Novel

When Earl Alden is found dead, dangling from a wind turbine, it's his wife, Missy, who is arrested. Unfortunately for Joe Pickett, Missy is his mother-in- law, a woman he dislikes heartily, and now he doesn't know what to do-especially when the early signs point to her being guilty as sin. But then things happen to make Joe wonder: Is Earl's death what it appears to be? Is Missy being set up? He has the county DA and sheriff on one side, his wife on the other, his estranged friend Nate on a lethal mission of his own, and some powerful interests breathing down his neck.

Excellent, edge of my seat the whole time

The action starts right from the beginning and the suspense is tight and keeps you glued to the audio long after you should be doing something else. ..Show More »Literally listened to this book every chance I got until it was finished and right to the end was captured by it. C.J. Box is a very talented writer and this latest installment in the Joe Pickett saga may be the best in the series, which says a lot since the series is so good. The narration is great, the story spellbinding I would recommend this book without a single reservation. Already looking forward to the next in the series.

Cold Wind

When Earl Alden is found dead, dangling from a wind turbine, it's his wife, Missy, who is arrested. Unfortunately for Joe Pickett, Missy is his mother-in-law, a woman he dislikes heartily, and now he doesn't know what to do - especially when the early signs point to her being guilty as sin. But then things happen to make Joe wonder: Is Earl's death what it appears to be? Is Missy being set up?

In Force of Nature, trouble comes calling from Nate’s past in the Special Forces, and the colleague he once called a friend won’t stop until those who know a deadly secret are silenced. Everyone close to Nate is at risk, including Joe and his family. To save them, Nate will have to convince law-abiding Joe to finally break a few rules along the way.

Best mystery series ever----great performance of t

If you're a fan of the Joe Pickett novels, this is the book you've been wanting and waiting to read since the first couple of books in this series. F..Show More »inally, learn what Nate's big secret is all about. It was worth the wait, and now I'm even more intrigues by Nate, who lives to seek a 'pure but self designated' justice, and his good friend, Wyoming Game Warden, Joe Picket, who seeks justice through honor, loyalty, and the law.

Box writes his characters so realistically that they feel like good friends. His writes great characterizations while tackling interesting and relevant issues of the day. This is so much so that the real non-fiction book referred to in this novel is now on my to-read list!! Great writing plus a great story is a combination that can't be beat! Bring on the next in the series!!!!

Force of Nature

In 1995, Nate was in a secret Special Forces unit abroad when a colleague did something terrible. Now high up in the government, the man is determined to eliminate anyone who knows about it, and Nate knows exactly how he'll do it – by striking at Nate's friends to draw him out. The entire Pickett family will be a target, and the only way to fight back is outside the law. Nate knows he can do it, but he isn't sure about his straight-arrow friend – and all their lives could depend on it.

Breaking Point: A Joe Pickett Novel Book 13

The recipient of Edgar, Anthony, and Macavity Awards, New York Times best-selling author C. J. Box has won almost every honor in his field. In Breaking Point, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is glad to catch up with old friend Lyle Pendergast, but then the man goes missing and is named a suspect in the death of two EPA employees. All signs point to Lyle’s guilt, but the more Joe digs into the case, the more he realizes he’s stepped into the middle of a deadly power play.

Darn near a true story...

Starting back in the mid 1980's, I was one of the few lawyers who was trying to defend rural landowners like the Roberson's, the endangered protagonis..Show More »ts of "Breaking Point". When I say "trying", that's what I mean: As author Box suggests, these federal agents operate outside the Congressionally-enacted law, with unpublished rules and regulations, to the point that it's almost impossible to clear your clients in these cases. Besides, if you try to fight back, they just throw in more charges -- again, as Box suggests. The best you can do is to try to work out some plan that will let your client keep some portion of his land -- although by the time they get done defending themselves, most abandon the farm. Everything they valued has been destroyed. It got so bad that by the mid-1990's, I had to quit. I decided that if I had another sobbing farm wife sitting in my office, listening while I had to explain that there really wasn't much that could be done other than to work out a "deal", I'd go crazy myself. Like my clients, I too walked away. It just hurt too much.

A few things in "Breaking Point" are fiction: I never had a client kill, or even try to kill, a federal agent -- but I did have two who killed themselves. The trauma of having your farm -- in your family for over 100 years -- plowed, planted and harvested every year -- suddenly declared a "wetland" and therefore off limits, subject to horrendous penalties if "disturbed", is just too devastating. Can planted acres be a "wetland"? Indeed. Under federal law, a "wetland" is determined by soil type -- it has nothing to do with its being "wet". No self-respecting duck would ever look at this land, let alone land there. All that's required to constitute a "wetland" is a particular soil type -- merely that the land WOULD SUPPORT hydrophytic vegetation IF IT WERE wet, is enough. Kafkaesque, certainly, but entirely true.

There's more in this book than just the trauma faced by the Roberson family -- the range fire at the end, the tense escape, is one of the best white-knuckle scenes in history. Box is so good that you can picture the whole thing, feel the heat.

As far as I know, C. J. Box is only one of two popular authors who dares to make federal agents the 'bad guys' in some of his books -- P. T. Deutermann being the other. And why not? It's not just pharmaceutical company owners, businessmen, religious leaders and Republicans who do bad things, as virtually every other contemporary author would have you believe. Sometimes there are rogue federal agents, too.

Breaking Point

Butch Roberson was known by all as a local business owner, a hard worker, and a family man. Then he disappeared, leaving two dead bodies in his wake. Now he's known as a murderer - though Joe Pickett cannot believe someone as gentle as Butch could have the instincts of a killer.

Stone Cold: Joe Pickett, Book 14

Everything about the man is a mystery: the massive ranch in the remote Black Hills of Wyoming that nobody ever visits, the women who live with him, the secret philanthropies, the private airstrip, the sudden disappearances. And especially the persistent rumors that the man’s wealth comes from killing people. Joe Pickett, still officially a game warden but now mostly a troubleshooter for the governor, is assigned to find out what the truth is, but he discovers a lot more than he’d bargained for. There are two other men living up at that ranch. One is a stone-cold killer who takes an instant dislike to Joe.

Didn't expect to like it as much as I did

STORY (game warden/detective) - This is Book 14 in the Joe Picket series, but it's my first. From reading other reviews, I learned that the series has..Show More » great characters and that you're missing out if you don't start with Book 1. I agree and disagree. I loved the characters in the book even though I just "met" them, but I can see how the experience would be greatly enriched by starting from Book 1...which I plan to do!

The story is set in rural Wyoming, present day. Joe Picket, the main character, is a game warden but is working for the Governor in this book, trying to spy on someone accused of major crimes. What follows is a nice, easy listen that kept me coming back every second I could. There is mystery, action and suspense, but it's not constant or gut-wrenching. Everything that happens is believable as opposed to "over the top." And in between are wonderful descriptions of the wintery Wyoming countryside.

PERFORMANCE - I love it when narrators are able to give different voices to most of the main characters. And in this case, they're all very realistic. Great job! (And I especially love the husky voice given to the mysterious Nate Romanowski.)

OVERALL - There is no sex, but there is cursing and violence. There are a couple pretty gnarly descriptions of bodies as well. Not recommended for kids except MAYBE older teens. I'm squeamish, but these descriptions were fairly short so I had no problem hearing them. The story stands alone. I think this would be a great book for a husband/wife road trip.

Stone Cold

Everything about the ranch is a mystery. Rumours abound about the millionaire who owns it, the women who live with him, and the sudden disappearances. Joe Pickett is tasked by the governor to find the truth. There are two other men living up at the ranch. One is a stone-cold killer who takes an instant dislike to Joe. The first man doesn't frighten him. But the second is another story entirely.

Endangered

She was gone. Joe Pickett had good reason to dislike Dallas Cates, even if he was a rodeo champion, and now he has even more: Joe's 18-year-old ward, April, has run off with him. And then comes even worse news: The body of a girl has been found in a ditch along the highway - alive but just barely, the victim of blunt-force trauma.

Another great Chuck Box book!!!

I have a couple of complaints with this book as well as with all of his books. My first complaint is that his books are so enjoyable it is very hard ..Show More »to stop listening to them. Because of this I lose one night of sleep in order to finish the book. My second complaint is that because it takes less than 24 hours to listen to the book I have to wait another 6 months to a year before the next book is released. Thanks Chuck for another great listen! Love narrator David Chandler!

Endangered

Joe has good reason to dislike Dallas Cates - his eighteen-year-old foster daughter, April, has run off with him. And then comes worse news: the body of a girl has been found in a ditch along the highway – barely alive, the victim of blunt force trauma. It is April, and the doctors don't know if she'll recover. Cates denies having anything to do with it - but Joe knows in his gut who's responsible.

Off the Grid: A Joe Pickett Novel

New York Times best-selling author C. J. Box returns with a suspenseful new Joe Pickett novel. Nate Romanowski is off the grid, recuperating from wounds and trying to deal with past crimes, when he is suddenly surrounded by a small team of elite professional special operators. They're not there to threaten him but to make a deal. They need help destroying a domestic terror cell in Wyoming's Red Desert, and in return they'll make Nate's criminal record disappear.

I love this series! I have to admit,

I have to admit that David Chandler started off a little 'off'from his usual narration. It only took me a few minutes to get back engaged in the Joe P..Show More »ickett series that I have missed so much. Surprisingly, this entire Series has become a companion to me that I have listened to repeatedly. Not being the type of person who listens to anything twice, it's surprised my husband and family to know that I was listening to the series again, as I felt that it was a ' friend' was missing from my life. I think CJ box and David Chandler for another companion that has engaged and entertained me for hours. I continue to fantasize about visiting Wyoming, and I look forward to the next book in the series.

Off the Grid: Joe Pickett, Book 16

Joe Pickett's old friend, Nate Romanowski, is off the grid, lying low while the FBI search for him. But they're not the only ones looking for him. Nate finds himself confronted by agents who need his help assessing a potential terror threat in Wyoming's Red Desert. In return they'll make Nate's criminal record disappear. Meanwhile, Joe investigates a rash of crimes and secretive federal activity. As they pursue their quarries, both men will be drawn deep into a secret that could take them both down.

Vicious Circle

The plane circled in the dark. Joe Pickett could just make out down below a figure in the snow and timber, and then three other figures closing in. There was nothing he could do about it. And Joe knew that he might be their next target. The Cates family had always been a bad lot. Game warden Joe Pickett had been able to strike a fierce blow against them when the life of his daughter April had been endangered, but he'd always wondered if there'd be a day of reckoning.

great series

I have enjoyed every book in this series you will too. Give them a try you won't want to stop listening till you've finished.

Vicious Circle: Joe Pickett, Book 17

The plane circled in the dark. Down below, Joe Pickett could just make out figures in the snow and timber. Joe knew that he might be their next target. The Cates clan's history with the Picketts is about to come full circle. Game warden Joe Pickett struck a fierce blow against them when the life of his daughter April was endangered. But it wasn't a killing blow, and he'd always wondered if there'd be a day of reckoning...It seems now Joe will find out.

Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country

From C. J. Box, the New York Times-bestselling author of the Joe Pickett novels, comes a thrilling book of suspense stories about the Wyoming he knows so well - and the dark deeds and impulses that can be found there. Over the course of eighteen books, C. J. Box has been consistently hailed for his brilliant storytelling and extraordinary skills at creating character, suspense, and a deep sense of place. All of those strengths are in the ten riveting stories - three of them never before published - that make up Shots Fired.

C.J. has done it again

An intriguing collection of short stories by C.J. Box, masterfully read by David Chandler. I particularly enjoyed the stories which contain Joe & Nate..Show More » because I have read the entire Joe Pickett series and these could each be a chapter or two in one of the novels. However, each story stands alone so reading the series is not a prerequisite! The other stories clearly demonstrate C.J.'s imagination, writing style and 'dark side' in a couple. I liked the explanation of where he got some of his ideas and when and why he wrote each one.

Shots Fired

In 'Shots Fired', Joe Pickett's investigation into a radio call threatens to become his last. In 'Pirates of Yellowstone', two Eastern Europeans find out just how ruthless American tough guys can be. In 'Le Sauvage Noble', a Lakota Indian takes a job at Disneyland Paris. These gripping tales are proof, once again, of why Box is a force to be reckoned with.